Rare change

Coin show is a chance to unload rare change

Coin show is a chance to unload rare change

Attendance at this weekend's Interstate Coin Show might pay for collectors seeking to buy or trade prized coins and folks who want to unload their rare change.

"If you have some coins in your family and you want to get rid of them, this is the place to do it," said show chairman Robert Brechbiel, past president of the Hagerstown-based Interstate Coin Club.

The 86th semiannual show will be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 4, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 5, at the Venice Inn ballroom on Dual Highway in Hagerstown. The event will feature the buying, selling and trading of coins, currency, stamps and postcards. About 45 vendors - the vast majority of whom specialize in coins and currency - are expected to offer all kinds of foreign and domestic money, Brechbiel said.

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"You have really no idea what they'll bring," he said. "Dealers are very diversified."

Between 600 and 800 coin enthusiasts generally turn out to the show, Brechbiel said.

He started collecting coins in the 1940s and developed an affinity for commemorative half dollars - including a Battle of Antietam half dollar that was released in 1937. He keeps his collection of about 90 commemorative half dollars and other coins in a bank - and hasn't seen some of his money for 20 years, he said. Though still active with the 43-year-old Interstate Coin Club, which includes about 50 members, Brechbiel now concentrates his collecting efforts on Washington County postcards.